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  • Some tropes of the 80s and 90s: Teenagers ignoring their family while listening to a Walkman. Dads reading the newspaper and ignoring their family. Moms talking on the landline phone with friends and neighhbors. Nerds reading comic books. Dads playing golf. Mom shopping. Teens just "hanging out" at some random place like a parking lot, near a lake, under a bridge, behind the band hall, etc. Smoking. Crossword puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles. Cards.

  • Read books, read newspapers, chat on the land-line phone for hours.

    Before the cliché of everyone being with their faces in smartphones there were clichés about husbands who do nothing but read newspapers all day, or teenage daughters that massively inflate the phone bill because she's talking with her friends for hours, or children with square eyes watching brain rotting cartoons all day.

    • Work more.
    • Go to church.
    • Go to a witch burning.
    • Participate in a crusade.
    • From which century are you asking?

  • Listened to music. Hung out in a diner and had coffee & fries all night with friends. Hung out at the mall. Got drunk. Had sex.

  • Read books. Make stuff from said books Show friends the stuff you made from books. Drink beer and watch sports and other hobbys.

  • Playing outside a lot more, which was really fun. Hit the beach or swim docks and jumped off the highdives. Went camping. Bike adventures, etc. Lots more physical toys like nerf, Lego, beyblades, etc. CD music players, cassette music players, or MP3 music players, depending on the era.

    People on the metro buses would read the paper to pass the time, listen to music, or read a book.

    Back then, you could rent videos or games at a rental place, and there were many more physical hobby shops (there still are, but for live stuff, like aquariums now). Malls were a lot more alive and were true third places. Though even back then, I found people gorging themselves in a materialistic frenzy rather...distasteful. People still do it, just via Amazon and fast fashion online.

    The biggest things I remember were how chill people were, the ubiquity of newspapers, smoking and cigarette holders outside, a lack of really any graffiti, and people being incredibly chill and a bit more open. There were also like, zero bike lanes or rail, so everyone drove everywhere.

  • Ride bikes, go on adventures in the woods, break sticks, throw rocks in a pond, read books and encyclopedia, talk about wild imaginary adventures, see what can be hit with a BB gun

  • Usually I use my phone when I an sitting around waiting for something. In those times, before I had a phone, I would always think about things I could and should make, and the techniques and mechanics of how they would work.

  • I used to buy these little pocket-sized Sudoku books that I'd keep with me, usually play a puzzle or two while commuting to work or something.

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